1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a beverage dispensing machine incorporating both a blending assembly and a shaved ice delivery assembly. More in particular, the present invention is directed to a machine for dispensing beverages of substantially uniform consistency wherein a precise measured volume of drink mix is combined with a precise quantity of shaved ice. Further, the present invention is directed to a beverage dispensing machine wherein the shaved ice is delivered from rotating ice shaving blades which are controlled to rotate through a predetermined number of revolutions. Still further, the present invention is directed to a beverage dispensing machine having portion control valves formed of low mass components so that the valve may be operated rapidly, wherein the low mass components are releasably coupled to a piston subassembly for easy removal and cleaning. Still more in particular, the present invention is directed to a beverage dispensing machine having separate and distinct controllers, wherein one controller controls the delivery of the shaved ice and the other controller controls the operation of a blender, and may further control the operation of a plurality of dispensing valves.
2. Prior Art
Beverage dispensing machines are well known in the art. In machines such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,030, a blender and ice shaver are combined in a common housing for preparing drinks once a user manually adds a drink mix to the blending cup. Such systems use a cam type controller for sequencing the operation of the blender and ice shaver however, while such systems automate the ice delivery and blending operations, they provide no ability to control the portion of the drink mix which is added to form the beverage and do not provide a precise quantity of shaved ice to the blender.
In other systems, drink mixes are automatically delivered by controlling the amount of time that a valve is opened. While such systems attempt to control the volume of drink mix delivered by restricting the flow rate of the drink mix supplied to the valve, they do not provide accurate portion control of the beverage delivered thereto.
In still other systems, such as that disclosed in the inventor's prior U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,691, some improvement over the deficiencies of the prior systems was obtained. However, there was a need to provide a more accurate portion control and to provide for adjustment of the portion of drink mix dispensed. Further, there was a need for a more accurate delivery of the quantity of shaved ice that was dispensed, so that uniformly consistent drinks can be repeatedly produced. Further, such systems utilized a single microprocessor control system which had to withstand the start-up surges from both the blender and ice shaver motors which started in quick succession, and which in a commercial environment were repeatedly generated. These and other deficiencies of the prior art have been overcome by the instant invention as described herein.